$70 MILLION Powerball prize won by Hervey Bay grandparents!

Friday 8 January 2016 - A couple from the Hervey Bay region woke this morning to the staggering news that their 6-game entry in last night’s $70 million Powerball draw had scooped the entire jackpot prize pool!

The newly minted multi-millionaires were waiting by the phone for a call from Golden Casket early this morning while the life-changing realisation started to sink in.

“I had six missed calls on my phone late last night and I thought who would phone that many times at that hour! I thought it couldn’t possibly be Golden Casket, but I got out my tablet to check my numbers online this morning and I was all thumbs! If I checked it once, I checked it a thousand times!”

The winning couple, who wish to remain anonymous, said they never considered themselves ‘lucky’ people before now.

“The best thing we’ve ever won is the old chook raffle!” they laughed.

The winning woman said she actually told her husband that this year she had decided to win lotto.

“It was my 2016 resolution to bring more positivity into my life!” the winning woman exclaimed.

“And of course she’s gone and done it – she bought the winning ticket for the first and biggest Powerball jackpot of the year!” the husband added.

The happy duo said they had always dreamed of winning the lotto so had a few ideas up their sleeve as to how they would spend their windfall if their numbers ever came up.

“It won’t be wasted! We’ll be helping our family and giving to a few charities close to our hearts,” the woman explained.

“We haven’t done much travel in our lives, but now we’re off! You won’t see us around here for long! We’ll just have to wait until Europe and the USA warm up a bit!

“There’s also a dream car on the horizon which was always out of reach until now,” the husband beamed.

They said their multi-millionaire status would be a big adjustment for people who have been frugal all their lives.

“We’ve always been mindful of money, and skimped and saved where we could. We don’t get tempted to buy the cream puffs!” the winning man exclaimed.

“But we won’t have to be frugal anymore; I can toss out all those specials catalogues!”

The couple won the entire $70 million jackpot prize with a 6-game marked entry purchased at newsXpress Eli Waters, Shop 23, 2 Ibis Boulevard in Pialba.

“The ticket was registered to my wife’s Winners Circle card, but I’m taking the credit for the winning numbers! They’re a mix of our favourite numbers and we put them on just about every week,” the winning husband joked.

Allan and Stella Wickham are the owners of newsXpress Eli Waters and were blown away when they discovered they’d sold the record-breaking $70 million winning Powerball entry.

“That’s incredible! I’ve got goose bumps right now. I can’t believe one of our customers is now $70 million richer!” Mr Wickham exclaimed.

“We sold our first division one winning ticket a few years ago so this win was long overdue. What a way to break the drought – with a $70 million win!

“We want to congratulate our winning customers and we wish them all the best for their future as a multi-millionaire!”

Tatts Lotteries spokesperson Elissa Lewis said the $70 million Powerball jackpot was record-breaking, being the largest win on a single ticket in Powerball history.

“The standing record for the largest Powerball win claimed by a single entry in Australia was set in 2008 when one ticket purchased in Melbourne won $58.7 million in Powerball draw 629,” Ms Lewis explained.

“It has also equalled the largest lotto win ever by a single ticket which was set in December 2013 when a ticket purchased on the Gold Coast won $70 million in Oz Lotto.”

Along with the huge jackpot prize more than 1.3 million prizes were won across Australia in divisions two to eight, sharing in a total prize pool of $29.2 million.

The winning numbers in Powerball’s $70 million draw 1025 on Thursday 7 January 2016 were 18, 23, 34, 14, 4 and 20. The Powerball number was 18.

Powerball will offer a $3 million division one prize in next week’s draw.